i just bought my first rb 67 waiting for it to arrive from adorama. this will be my second medium format camera 1st yashica mat 124-g. i have heard good things about the rb 67.also would be greatful for tips on the rb.

I owned RB&#39;s for quite a while before going Hassy...the first thing to do is to get a complete CLA for the body and a Reseal/Replacement for both the backs *AND* the revolving adapter. Don&#39;t trust the seals on these pieces: even if they look new (unless you know of when they were replaced). They may work great and suddenly, after a film change, the back could start leaking light.

And, many people neglect to have the foam on the rotating back replaced.

2: If you get a prism, get the prism Model 2 (the newer one). The old one is a brick. The new one is almost a full pound lighter.

3: Get a bright screen ("Brightscreen" or "Intenscreen" or Maxwell screen). The factory screens are OK, but suck severely in low light.

4: Get a good strap and/or bracket and a good tripod. Trust me. I did 30min of "RB exercises" before every major, long shoot just so my wrist wouldn&#39;t hurt after a long wedding (YES, I *DID* use the RB for weddings...out of the studio).

5: Stay away from the 1st series of lenses. Get the C series lenses, at the least. The older ones have horrible contrast...and the 210APO is an awesome lens.

6: If you ever get the motorized backs, get the newer ones, where the batteries are in the back and not separate. The contacts on the older, separate units can become intermittent and give you hell.

7: Avoid the multi-piece, older WLF. The newer one-piece WLF is a ton better. The older one&#39;s have springs that fail and eventually won&#39;t open up correctly.

Enjoy your RB, avoid the Pro, get at least a Pro-S. The Pro-SD&#39;s aren&#39;t much more expensive than the Pro-S&#39;s and will allow the shift or fisheye lenses.

I had an RZ and an RB set. The RZ has that "one-cock" advance, without having to do the two stroke advance (body, then back) on the RB. The RB has the advantage of not having to flip a lever before rotating the back. The RZ feels cheaper, compared to the RB&#39;s metal body. The RZ takes a battery, the RB doesn&#39;t. The RZ takes a motor winder for the body, the RB has to have backs that auto-wind. The RZ can have on-board metering, via the prism, the RB cannot.

The RZ has a "you left the darkslide in, you idiot" indicator. The RB does not. The RZ takes the SCA395 adapter, so you can get a "flash-ready" lamp, the RB does not.

There is no battery in the RB, it&#39;ll keep shooting. In the RZ, if your battery dies, you shoot at 1/400 ONLY.

In the cold weather, the RB is more reliable. My RZ had a ton of problems (even with the external battery pack). You set the RZ&#39;s shutter speed on the body, you set the RB&#39;s on the lens.

Overall, I&#39;d rather have an RB than an RZ. Sure, you can set the RZ to RBL mode and use an RB lens, but the whole battery dependency and plasticy feel made me hate it. That&#39;s why I went with Hassy. Hell, with the RZ & RB&#39;s prices so close together, you might as well get an RZ though and get an RB for a backup body (you can share the lenses as long as you get RB lenses&#33

Of course, the RZ lenses have a bit more contrast than the RB lenses of the same generation. But the Zeiss lenses blow that away. I thought it was just a tale until I shot the two side by side in studio on NPC from the same batch and printed it on Supra paper with the contrast as high as the paper could handle.